Cheese – and raw meat in the US – is stolen at a much higher rate than other foods, according to Global Retail Theft Barometer and Checkpoint Systems. "The reasons why are reasonably clear, including high demand, easy 'disposal' by thieves and small, mobile formats that make it easy to conceal," say the US consultants in a 2011 report about what the industry euphemistically calls "shrink".

While some of what the criminologist Ron Clarke termed Craved items (Concealable, Removable, Available, Valuable, Enjoyable and Disposable), such as razor blades, DVDs and bottles of spirits are protected with security tags, supermarket cheese is rarely given the same protection, according to Lorraine Gamman, director of the Design Against Crime Research Centre.

She points out how cheese conforms to the Craved acronym: widely enjoyed, easy to conceal and kept in fridges rather than shelves that are subject to more extensive surveillance.

So how did Worrall Thompson shoplift cheese? Not caerphilly enough, as the tweeted jokes cruelly suggested.